James Emejo in Abuja
The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Ms Yewande Sadiku, has disclosed that total investment announcements for the third quarter of the year (Q3 2019) stood at about $9.29 billion, compared to $15.15 billion in the first quarter.
She said the proposed investments from four countries included 13 projects across four states and offshore Nigeria.
Speaking at an interactive session with journalists over the weekend, Sadiku identified the projects as the Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company which plans to invest $5 billion in crude exploration.
Others were the Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company Limited (SEEPCO) which was in joint venture project of $3.15 billion with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the development of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 13.
Also tracked was the CMES-OMS Petroleum Development Company (CPDC) which was also in joint venture project with NNPC to the tune of $875.75 million for the funding, provision of technical services and alternative financing for the development of OML 65.
Datasonic Group Berhard, a Malaysian Group investing in the information and communication infrastructure also signified interest to invest $100 million in the economy.
According to the NIPC boss, announcements from Nigerian companies accounted for 98 per cent of projects by value, and were mainly in the development of oil fields.
“This shows the growing capacity of Nigerian companies in the oil and gas sector of the economy,” she noted.
She said mining and quarrying sector accounted for 98 per cent of investments announcements, while information and communications, finance and insurance, transportation and storage, real estate, human health and social services, manufacturing and agriculture collectively accounted for the balance of two per cent.
She explained that the major investment destinations were the Niger-Delta region which accounted for 87 per cent, while Lagos, Kaduna, Anambra and Ogun states accounted for less than one per cent.
“The other destinations were not made public by the investors,” she added.
However, she added that NIPC’s Intelligence Newsletter which publishes Nigerian investment-related news culled from various sources, was based only on investment announcements cited in NIPC’s Newsletters from July to September 2019
She said the report may not contain exhaustive information on all investment announcements in the country during the period.
She said: “Nevertheless, the report gives a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy” adding that “NIPC did not independently verify the authenticity of the investment announcements but is working on tracking the announcements as they progress to actual investments.”
